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Stephen Colbert
Welcome one and all to the Late Show. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert. Folks, here in New York, here in the Big Apple, after weeks of just bitter cold, it was 50 degrees outside today. The sun, it's not 50 in here, but outside it was 50 degrees. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the doggie doo was defrosting. Life finds a way. And we need that reminder because for many people, this is a dark time, not just in America. Case in point, three years ago today, Russia invaded Ukraine. And to mark the occasion, the US Sponsored a resolution in the UN Urging an end to the war in Ukraine that did not blame Russia for starting the war. Cause you know what? After all this time, who can remember who invaded who? I mean, it was three years ago. It might have been Chris Rock who threw his face at Will Smith slapping hand. I don't know. At this point, another resolution was after this, right? This next resolution was offered by Ukraine and the European Union, condemning Russia and calling for a complete and conditional withdrawal of Russian forces. The United States voted against that, along with our traditional allies, Russia and North Korea. So it's subtle, but there's been a little shift in our foreign policy. We're going to have to retroactively change a few of our Cold War movies. So get ready for a hug for Red October. Because, I gotta say, because piling it up with Putin and Kim Jong Un with Russia and North Korea, that makes us part of. I'm sorry, what's the term? An axis of evil. Thank you for your painting, sir. Speaking of evil, Elon Musk. Our federal workforce. Our federal workforce. That had a tail on it. I did not see that coming. Our federal workforce is in the clutches of a heartless billionaire who wants to colonize Mars with vehicles shaped like his penis, by which I mean cybertrucks. He should see a doctor. This weekend, Field Marshal Musk sent a mass email to every single federal worker subject line, what did you do last week? Instructing them all to reply with approximately five bullets of what they accomplished last week. He followed up by tweeting, failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. Now, obviously, the only proper email response to that is, what did I do last week? Your mom, your mom, your mom, your mom, and your mom. But please don't do that, because you know Musk is going to use AI to screen these responses, so you'll want to include keywords like your mom synergistically, your mom effectively, your mom productively, your mom efficiently, and your mom teamwork. Good for mom. So that email is insane. And the time it went out was even more insane because it was Saturday at 4:46pm But Elon made sure folks would see it because the email was labeled importance high, the sender even higher. So why. Why on earth did Musk send such an aggressive email to millions of federal workers at a time when no one will see it? Well, according to him, a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all. Nope. If people aren't checking their work email, it doesn't mean they're not working. It means they respect themselves enough not to go on Microsoft Outlook. You know their slogan, Microsoft Outlook? Every button archives that thing you need. Federal workers. Federal workers who got this email had no idea what to do. And their Trump administration bosses didn't seem to know either. New Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told personnel at spy agencies not to respond. FBI Director Kash Patel told FBI staff to pause any responses. And Health and human services secretary RFK Jr said in an email saying free roadkill in the break room. That's nice. You know, on a Friday.
Audience Member
Wow.
Stephen Colbert
Wow. At the end of the day, don't even know what that means. Musk celebrated gutting the federal government last week at cpac, the National Conference of Brothers in Law you don't talk to anymore. Here's Musk with a gift he received on stage.
Elon Musk
This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy. Chainsaw.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, no. Be careful. You might get hurt. One of the dumbest parts of this dumb, dumb thing was Elon's dumb outfit. Apparently, he was trying to recreate an AI generated meme of himself that went viral on Twitter. There he is, looking like a futuristic assassin who can almost grow a beard. Musk made sure everybody got the reference.
Elon Musk
I am become meme.
Stephen Colbert
Yes, I am become meme is of course, a reference to the haunting words of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who, when he saw the mushroom cloud rising over the Trinity test site, lamented Ermergerd, erm, Bekermder. All of this is great. All of this is just wonderful. But what Elon really wants us to know is that he's having a great.
Elon Musk
Time, you know, trying to get good things done, but also, like, you know, have a good time doing it and, you know, have like a sense of humor, you know, so, like, I mean, sort of the left wanted to make comedy illegal, you know, like, you can't make fun of anything. So there was like, comedy sucks. It's like nothing's funny. You can't make fun of anything. It's like legalized comedy. Yeah, legalize comedy.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, thank God. Because comedy's been illegal for years now, in fact, and I don't advertise this, but just to do this show, my writers have had to smuggle in their jokes prison style. In a cake. In a cake. And the cake goes up the butt. Now, for some reason, it's not easy. Not easy. The frosting is murder. Now, for some reason, federal employees are not laughing at Elon's prop comedy layoffs. According to to one who has been following the administration's mass firings, their only goal is to dismantle democracy by traumatizing federal workers. Good luck. Have you met a federal worker? They're hard to traumatize. These are people who still use fax machines. They drink from a Mr. Coffee that's been in constant use since the finale of mash. And some are even pushing back in hilarious ways. No warning before I show you this. If you have kids, get them in here to see how great this is. This morning at the headquarters of Housing and Urban Development down in dc, Someone hacked the TV system throughout the building and played this AI video of Trump slurping on Elon's toes. Or as Trump calls them, 10 piece footnuggets. One thing, one funny thing, one really great thing about the video. In it, Elon has two left feet, which makes sense if you've ever seen him try to dance. Trump continues to pack the government with sub qualified ass kissers. Last week, the Senate confirmed his pick for FBI director, MAGA conspiracy theorist Cash Patel, seen here sporting his Charles Manson tribute eyes. Patel has to round up zero experience running anything, which is why even he couldn't believe he got the gig. Here he is after being sworn in.
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Stephen Colbert
Yeah, yeah, I agree. It kind of is. He's like a kid who wished on a Zoltar machine to be big and was immediately sworn in as FBI director. Jeepers creepers. I get to run the FBI and I have hair down there. Wow. The deal is FBI director is a really big job, but in a sense he can kind of be a figurehead. The person who really runs the day to day operations of our nation's most powerful law enforcement traditionally is the FBI's deputy director. Patel knows this, and during his confirmation, he assured senators that his deputy would be an active special agent, as has been the case for the last 117 years. Well, not only is comedy legal now, but so is lying, because last night the role of deputy director of the FBI went to right wing podcaster and henchman that Jason Bourne disarms with a shoehorn. Dan Bongingo. Am I saying that correctly? Bongingo? Nope. Does anyone know how to say his name? Bing. Bing Bong.
Audience Member
Bong.
Stephen Colbert
Bing. Bing Bing. Thank you, thank you. There you go.
Audience Member
Bong.
Stephen Colbert
Bingo. Bing Bong. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Old Bing Bongo is all in on Trump's cult of crazy. Just two weeks ago, he podcasted his vision of a new justice system. How about Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House, sets up a courtroom. Like remember the Batman movie? Scarecrow has the courtroom. Or is it the Bane one? Was that the Dark Knight? Whatever. Wonderful. Dan Bongina can't be trusted with the FBI. He can't even be trusted with rotten tomatoes. I just saw the new Batman movie or Spider man movie. Which one has Jar Jar Binks in it? Whatever. Pretty sure I was in a theater cause I was eating out of a bucket. Maybe it was kfc. Anyway, five tomatoes. We got a great show for you tonight. More Late Show Ponch show after this.
Audience Member
Wow.
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Stephen Colbert
You, the person who agonized four weeks.
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Stephen Colbert
Say hello to Louis Cato, the Late Show Band right there.
Audience Member
Hey.
Stephen Colbert
Hey. Beautiful song.
Louis Cato
Beautiful song.
Stephen Colbert
This time playing a little. Playing a little Roberta Flack tonight in honor of Ms. Flack's passing today. That's right. Beautiful artist. Did you ever get a chance to meet her?
Louis Cato
I did. I worked with her a few times in. In Tokyo.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, really?
Indeed Advertiser
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Louis Cato
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
What was she like as an artist to work with?
Louis Cato
Really professional. Just like. Like she had a level of preparation that. That really stuck with me. Like she was like we were playing with an orchestra and she knew everybody's parts she could play. Point out everything from the piano. Everything was going on to the point where she could have a sense of humor about it. And she was really light on stage, but was very just professional and prepared and really stuck with me.
Stephen Colbert
What is that word again? Preparation. Folks Right now in this country there's so much division and so much anger and I need to be clear about where I stand on something. I know I might lose some viewers for even saying this, but some things are too important to stay silent on. Well, here it is. I like dogs. Cancel me. Okay? And because I like dogs so much, I like my segment Rescue Dog Rescue where we take real dogs from North Shore Animal League America that really need real homes. And then I, along with a celebrity guest, tell flattering lies about those dogs in order to convince people. And it works. I am proud to say that so far we have gotten 185 dogs adopted, which, which is every single dog we've ever shown, except for one. His name is Norbert. Okay? And for some reason Norbert has not been adopted. Even though we have featured Norbert on Rescue Dog Rescue twice. First with Chris Evans, then with Dua Lipa. And I blame myself. I should have gotten a celebrity who was attractive. Anyway, here are the flattering lies that I told about Norbert. But the holidays are the perfect time to adopt Norbert because he's an expert at untangling Christmas lights. What's his secret? He throws them out and buys new lights. Norbert is a former drug sniffing dog, which means he knows how to fight uncut. And because he's retired, he doesn't have to turn it in anymore. Well, evidently telling a couple of lies wasn't enough to melt the iron heart of my audience. So tonight we've decided to show you even more flattering lies about Norbert. This is a very special edition of Rescue Dog Rescue.
Sam Waterston
Good evening, I'm Sam Waterston. You might recognize me from the newsroom or Grace and Frankie, or a fever dream you had when you were sick and fell asleep watching Law and Order. But tonight I am here to talk to you about the most important issue in the world right now. Norbert, the world's bestest dog. Let me show you what your life would be like if you welcomed Norbert into your heart and your home. Every morning. Norbert begins the day by rising with the sun. His first task, making fresh squeezed orange juice and mixing a pitcher of mimosas for you his own to enjoy when you will. Next he moves on to doing the wordle. Norbert always nails it on the very first try. Then he reopens and fills it with nonsense so that you don't feel stupid. Next, it's time to go to work, which for Norbert is digging up the yard in order to excavate valuable dinosaur. Most of which he sells on ebay, leaving the profits under your pillow. Some bones he saves in order to donate them to a children's hospital that lets underprivileged kids realize their dreams of becoming dinosaurs. After a long day of work, it's time to relax, and Norbert enjoys a massage specifically giving them. And if you like winding down with music, good news. Norbert comes preloaded with over 300 gigabytes of your favorite songs. Even better, you never have to pick up his excrement because his butt is a Bluetooth speaker. What are you waiting for? Adopt Norbert today, because in addition to being a wonderful dog, he is also one of the greatest actors of his generation. Don't believe me? What if I told you I've been Norbert this whole time? Back to you, Stephen.
Stephen Colbert
Ladies and gentlemen, as seen on tv. Norbert. So, folks, what are you waiting for? Head to North Shore Animal League America to adopt Norbert or one of the other great dogs looking for a home. Go to their website or scan the QR code for more info. Thank you, Sam Waterston. Thank you, Norbert. We'll be right back with Woody Harrelson, everybody. Cheers. Welcome back, friends and neighbors. Hey, everybody. You know my first guest tonight from Cheers, True Detective, no Country for Old Men, and so much more. He now stars in Last Breath. Please welcome back to the Late Show, Woody Harrelson. Hey, nice to see you again.
Audience Member
The very chair that Norbert sat in.
Stephen Colbert
Yeah.
Audience Member
So cool.
Stephen Colbert
You can feel the greatness, can't you?
Audience Member
Yeah, I really can.
Stephen Colbert
You need a dog? Do you need a dog?
Audience Member
I do need a dog.
Stephen Colbert
He's a good boy.
Audience Member
Is there any way to transport him to Texas?
Stephen Colbert
Yes.
Audience Member
Legally?
Stephen Colbert
Yes, legally.
Audience Member
I mean, there's new legal things like comedy, but I just wonder about.
Stephen Colbert
No, sure, sure. No, I think it would be funny if you ended up with Norbert. Do you want Norbert? I'll make it happen.
Audience Member
Really?
Stephen Colbert
Do you really want a dog? Cause I'm not shipping him off to somebody who's gonna be a deadbeat dad.
Audience Member
I'll be a deadbeat dad, of course. But no, no, I really would like.
Stephen Colbert
Let's talk later about it. Let's talk.
Audience Member
Let's talk.
Stephen Colbert
I have your people call my people.
Audience Member
Yeah, yeah.
Stephen Colbert
And then we'll all call Norbert's people. You know what I really enjoyed? I was at the SNL 50th on Sunday night. I enjoyed seeing you up on stage there. You seemed to be having a really good time up there with Meryl Streep making her SNL debut.
Audience Member
Up there, you and Meryl.
Stephen Colbert
Very similar. Did you have a good time?
Audience Member
Yeah, it was really, really fun, I gotta say.
Stephen Colbert
Was it hard to keep a straight face when Kate McKinnon had her skull all up in your junk there? Was that planned, or did that just sort of come about?
Audience Member
Luckily, it just happened spontaneously.
Stephen Colbert
How about that room? Did you actually stay in the room at all? Because it was a crazy room.
Audience Member
Everywhere you look, it's the craziest room I've ever seen.
Stephen Colbert
Yeah.
Audience Member
Every direction you look was amazing. People you admire?
Stephen Colbert
Yeah.
Audience Member
Spielberg, you know?
Stephen Colbert
Sure. Who were you sitting next to? Who were you sitting next to?
Audience Member
My wife.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, people you admire. Exactly.
Audience Member
The person I admire the most. The wifey poo. Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
That's nice. The sketch was about alien abduction. I'm just curious. Have you. Do you believe in aliens?
Audience Member
Yeah, I mean, I'm.
Stephen Colbert
Have you had. You had an experience with any of that?
Audience Member
Have I had an alien experience?
Stephen Colbert
It's a simple question, Woody. Have you had an alien experience?
Audience Member
You're really asking me if I had an alien experience?
Stephen Colbert
Yes, I'm asking you have you ever. Have you. I'm not saying have you been abducted, but have you seen a. If you have been abducted, that would be a great time to tell me, but, like, have you, like, seen a ufo? Have you, like, had any. Cause I have. I've seen stuff I can't explain, really. Oh, yeah.
Audience Member
Okay, then indeed I have.
Stephen Colbert
All right, let's hear it.
Audience Member
I wasn't abducted.
Stephen Colbert
No, but what did you see?
Audience Member
Well, maybe I was abducted and forgot or something.
Stephen Colbert
Exactly.
Audience Member
No, what I saw was. I think it was around 74, so. And I was living in Ohio 50 years ago, and I was living in Ohio, and suddenly I noticed, like, everybody's out in the street. And so I went out and we look up, it was nighttime, and there were these lights that were just, like, kind of blinking. And then it would just shoot all the way across the sky, Right. And then there'd be one over there. Shoot over here, and there were several. They just kept going across the sky. And everybody. We watched it for a while. It took a few minutes and then finally just went somewhere else, some other world. And. And. And. And nobody talked about it.
Stephen Colbert
Like, literally nobody on the news.
Audience Member
Everybody just went inside and said nothing. It was so freaky.
Stephen Colbert
Wow.
Audience Member
Even for me, as young as I was.
Stephen Colbert
So this is the first time you've told anyone?
Audience Member
Yes, the first time, publicly, yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Wow. I was. It was in charge, probably pushing 30 years ago. I was just midday, not night, midday. I looked up And I saw this, you know, sort of cylinder in the sky, and I thought it was like a plane banking. And sometimes you don't see the wings when they're banking, and you see the silver of the cylinder, but it was like. And it wasn't moving, and it was just sitting there. And then it went backwards a little bit, and I went, well, that's weird. And then I watched it and. Is that a balloon? That's just like a long balloon. And then it just went and disappeared out to sea.
Audience Member
Probably came to Ohio after.
Stephen Colbert
Yes. In a time machine. In a time machine.
Audience Member
No, but that's. Yeah, I don't. Of course it's true.
Stephen Colbert
I want it to be true. Why wouldn't it be true? I want it to be true. I want there to be someone who. I want there to be life out there that we don't know about. Even if it's time travelers, you know, from the future, Everybody coming back to try to help us. Maybe we could use a little help.
Audience Member
We could use a little help. We could use a lot of help, actually.
Stephen Colbert
Yeah. Yeah.
Audience Member
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
You recently spoke at an event honoring the Grateful Dead. Here you are with Bob Ware.
Audience Member
There you go.
Stephen Colbert
Who, I gotta say, looks a little bit like a time traveler there. And you go beyond a Deadhead. You think of yourself as, like, an honorary member.
Audience Member
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why not?
Stephen Colbert
Sure. Why not? What, you have a favorite memory of hanging with the band?
Audience Member
The first time I went and hung out with those guys was a guy who was a carpenter doing some carpentry work for me. He said, do you know the Dead? And I'm like, not really. And he goes, oh, my God. Took me up to this show up in Northern California, and I was. We imbibed some fun guy, and, you know, we're, like, hanging out. And then I'm like, oh, I realize. Anyway, we go back. We go back to. To talk to the guys, and before you know it, I'm meeting the Dead. And we chat for a minute. And then they're like, we got to get out there. And they're like, well, what should we do? Oh, let's start with Tennessee Jet. And. Oh, what's the chords? Oh, well, that's an F. A da da da. And they're like, okay, got it. And then what do we do after that? Well, do what we always do. Make it up. I saw this happen. I'm like, they go out, but Jerry stays. And Jerry's like, you ever think about the fact that the universe is expanding? No. I mean, I hadn't really Thought about that, you know, and we're talking, and his guy Steve is right hand man. He's like, get out there. You're distracting Jerry in any way. If the universe is expanding, isn't time expanding? And the guy's like, get out there. And then, you know, he keeps talking and finally he's like, get out. You know, Screams at him. And he says, ah, I gotta go. And he heads on stage. And anyway. Oh, yeah, Bruce Hornsby is who I knew in the band. Anyway, so I'm talking to Bruce Hornsby side stage while they're doing the space section. And we're talking. It was back Bush War One. So we're both upset about 90.
Stephen Colbert
91.
Audience Member
Yeah. Around. And so he goes and sits up on the back of his chair. He's kind of upset about. And then I'm like, oh, I sit on the back of my chair and suddenly this wild, discordant cacophony of crazy notes just. Well, I think to myself, kind of genius, you know? But then I notice, and granted, things are kicking in, and I look and I see, like, Jerry's looking back at me and Phil and Bob, and they're looking back directly at me. Like, if it was your dream, you'd be like, whoa. And in life, I was like, whoa. And then suddenly. And I see these roadies running toward me, you know, And Bruce goes, woody, you're sitting on a live midi, which is a keyboard. You're sat on a live midi.
Stephen Colbert
You're doing. You're doing an ass solo.
Audience Member
Yeah. And so anyway, that was my first experience with them. I jammed with the dead.
Stephen Colbert
Wow. Good for you. Congratulations. That's fantastic. Last time you were here, you were telling me about your dispensary. The woods.
Audience Member
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
And that it was. You know, it's fine. There are a lot of dispensaries out there, but you got something special in yours, which is the ganja Giggle Garden.
Audience Member
That's right.
Stephen Colbert
I remember, man. You don't talk to Woody Harrelson every day. And how's the Giggle Garden going?
Audience Member
The Giggle Garden's going to be the most beautiful dispensary in the world.
Stephen Colbert
If you could get anyone, living or dead, into the Giggle Garden with you, who would it be?
Audience Member
Living or dead?
Stephen Colbert
Living or dead, into the Giggle Garden with you.
Audience Member
Bob Marley.
Stephen Colbert
Wow. Could you go. Let me ask you something. That's a Woody Harrelson, Woody Harrison. And I want you to. I want you to examine your conscience before you answer this question. Could you go toque for toke with Bob Marley?
Audience Member
I don't think so.
Stephen Colbert
Good man. You're an honest man.
Audience Member
Yeah. I used to hang out with his mom a lot. Mother B. And she.
Stephen Colbert
Who don't you know? Who don't you know?
Audience Member
There's no one I don't know.
Stephen Colbert
All right.
Audience Member
But I used to hang out with Mother B and I couldn't go toe to toe with her or. Toe to toe.
Stephen Colbert
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Audience Member
She was serious.
Stephen Colbert
We have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more Woody Harrelson, everybody.
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Stephen Colbert
Hey everybody, we're back with America's sweetheart, Woody Harrelson. You've got a. You've got a new movie, Last Breath.
Audience Member
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Do you want to tell the folks what the last breath is about?
Audience Member
Last Breath takes place in the North Sea. It's these people who do what you call saturation diving. Sat dive. And they Go, you know, hundreds of feet below the earth's surface. I mean, the surface of the water, the ocean. To get down and work on these, maintain these oil rigs, the base of these things, they all work.
Stephen Colbert
A diving bell that goes down, right?
Audience Member
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Work out.
Audience Member
Yeah, you drop a bell down out of the ship, and then those guys go out of the bell, two go down, and one stays in the bell. And on this particular occasion, one of the guys gets in trouble because his thing gets his. You know, they have an umbilical, and it gets caught on the rigging. And anyway, the ship kind of loses its computer abilities. Just kind of shut off and it starts to float away, and he's stuck on the manifold, and the next thing, you know, snap, which is his calm, his oxygen, everything. So he's got stuck down in the bell. Well, he's in the. Down in the water. Down in the water. Okay. It's a true story. Yeah, this really happened. In fact, there was a documentary. Alex Parkinson, who wrote or directed it, he also did the documentary. But it's an extremely exciting edge of the seat story. And Fin Cole Simu Liu is in it. They're great experience and turned out pretty great movie.
Stephen Colbert
Did you dive? Did you dive in this?
Audience Member
Well, I didn't have to because one guy stays in the belt, two guys go down. I was in the belt.
Stephen Colbert
Did you look at all three parts ago? I want to be the dry guy.
Audience Member
Well, I would have, but that's the part I was offered. But, yeah, it was nice.
Stephen Colbert
We have a clip here. Anything we need to know?
Audience Member
Watch the clip.
Stephen Colbert
Aboard, aboard. We have a runoff. Give the divers as much umbilical as possible. Dr. Chris, our umbilicals are over the manifold.
Sam Waterston
We've got to use them to climb to the top.
Stephen Colbert
Chris, you've got to really move.
Audience Member
Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.
Louis Cato
I'm coming.
Audience Member
Divers, where are you? Yep. The thing I love about that clip is, like, I'm in it for, like, a second, and I just said, this is fantastic. Let's definitely show that. Anyway, if you're interested in seeing me, it won't be in that clip.
Stephen Colbert
Hey, thanks for being here. Last Breath is in theaters this Friday. Woody Harrelson, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.
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The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert: "Woody Harrelson (Extended) | Despicable Meme" Summary
Release Date: February 25, 2025
In this extended episode of The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert, host Stephen Colbert delivers his signature blend of sharp political satire, engaging segments, and a candid interview with acclaimed actor Woody Harrelson. The episode navigates through current events, humorous takes on societal issues, a heartwarming pet adoption segment, and an in-depth conversation about Harrelson’s latest film project.
Stephen Colbert opens the show with a chilly-weather quip, transitioning swiftly into a critique of international politics and corporate antics.
On U.S. Foreign Policy and the Ukraine Conflict Colbert reflects on the U.S. stance in the United Nations regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, highlighting the missed opportunity to clearly condemn Russia for its invasion three years prior.
Stephen Colbert [03:15]: "After all this time, who can remember who invaded who? I mean, it was three years ago."
He humorously suggests that Cold War-era terminology might need revisiting, blending historical context with contemporary geopolitics.
Commentary on Elon Musk’s Management of Federal Workers Colbert delves into Elon Musk’s controversial mass email to federal workers, mocking Musk’s authoritarian approach and envisioning absurd employee responses.
Stephen Colbert [04:50]: "The only proper email response to that is, what did I do last week? Your mom, your mom, your mom..."
He satirizes Musk's leadership style and the subsequent confusion among federal employees, criticizing the CEO's misguided policies with biting humor.
Transitioning from politics to a lighter topic, Colbert introduces his beloved segment dedicated to pet adoption, focusing on Norbert—a dog who stubbornly remains unadopted despite multiple features.
Introduction to Norbert Colbert shares his affection for dogs and the success of his "Rescue Dog Rescue" segment, which has facilitated the adoption of 185 dogs.
Stephen Colbert [15:24]: "I like dogs so much, I like my segment Rescue Dog Rescue where we take real dogs from North Shore Animal League America that really need real homes."
Humorous Portrayal of Norbert A comedic skit featuring Sam Waterston portrays Norbert’s exaggerated and fictionalized traits, enhancing the segment's charm and humor.
Sam Waterston [17:22]: "Norbert is a former drug sniffing dog, which means he knows how to fight uncut."
The segment underscores Colbert’s commitment to animal rescue while entertaining listeners with over-the-top descriptions of Norbert’s “abilities.”
The highlight of the episode is an extended interview with Woody Harrelson, who discusses his new film "Last Breath." The conversation provides insightful glimpses into the film’s premise and Harrelson’s experiences.
Overview of "Last Breath" Harrelson outlines the film’s setting in the North Sea, focusing on saturation divers tasked with maintaining oil rigs. He describes a gripping scenario where a diver becomes entangled in rigging, leading to a suspenseful struggle for survival.
Woody Harrelson [32:17]: "Last Breath takes place in the North Sea. It's about saturation diving... and one of the guys gets in trouble because his umbilical gets caught on the rigging."
Behind the Scenes and Real-Life Inspirations Harrelson reveals that the movie is based on true events, enhanced by a documentary by Alex Parkinson. He praises his co-stars Fin Cole and Simu Liu for their performances and the film’s adrenaline-pumping narrative.
Woody Harrelson [32:41]: "It's an extremely exciting edge-of-the-seat story... Fin Cole and Simu Liu are in it, and they turned out a pretty great movie."
Personal Experiences and On-Set Anecdotes The interview delves into Harrelson’s personal anecdotes from the set, including interactions with crew members and the physical demands of portraying a diver.
Woody Harrelson [34:44]: "I was in the bell... Did you look at all three parts ago? I want to be the dry guy."
Colbert and Harrelson engage in a lively discussion about the challenges and thrills of filming in hazardous underwater environments, providing listeners with an insider’s perspective on the filmmaking process.
Throughout the episode, Colbert interacts with audience members, infusing the conversation with spontaneous humor and relatable topics.
Alien Experiences and Personal Stories An audience member recounts a mysterious sighting of unidentified flying objects in Ohio, sparking a humorous and imaginative exchange about potential alien encounters.
Audience Member [23:10]: "I saw these lights blinking and shooting across the sky, but nobody talked about it."
Grateful Dead Anecdotes Another interaction highlights the enthusiastic experience of mingling with members of the Grateful Dead, blending nostalgia with light-hearted storytelling.
Audience Member [25:26]: "I jammed with the Dead... It was like a dream."
These interactions showcase Colbert’s ability to create an engaging and inclusive atmosphere, making listeners feel part of the show’s dynamic energy.
As the show wraps up, Colbert thanks his guest Woody Harrelson and reminds listeners about upcoming projects and where to find more content.
Stephen Colbert [35:23]: "Last Breath is in theaters this Friday. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert."
He also promotes additional content available on The Late Show’s YouTube channel, encouraging fans to stay connected and engaged with future episodes.
This episode of The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert masterfully balances topical satire, heartfelt segments, and engaging interviews. Stephen Colbert’s witty commentary on geopolitical issues and corporate behavior provides insightful and entertaining perspectives. The "Rescue Dog Rescue" segment adds a compassionate touch, while the in-depth conversation with Woody Harrelson offers a fascinating look into the making of a suspenseful film. Overall, the episode delivers a compelling mix of humor, information, and heartfelt moments, staying true to the show’s reputation as a premier late-night podcast.